Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1887-10-12
a SPANISH ExPLO RER.

a SPANISH. EXPLORER.
Tho Eirst European 70 Lead !. party 81
.SSH Whites Through Texas.
The first European to make extern
sive explo rations IN Texas was Alya
Nurez. who has left record Of his
wandcrings. which appeared in Spain
in 1887. and which has been used to adj
vantage BY II. h Bancroft in his His
tory Of the North Mexican States and.
Texas. He was one Of the survivors
Of y party Of Spaniards numbering 240
men, besides the officers, who for six
weeks sailed IN 4 frail craft tempest
tossed and suffering terribly from thirst
hunger. exposure and attacks from
warlike Indians, until early in Novem-
Der, 1927, they finally stranded on an
Island off the coast OF Texas. ENACT
ated and weak, the naked survivors
were cast up by the waves to fall into
the hands Of the sayages.
A few of the strongest survivors were
sent to the mainland by their fellows
with orders to seek help from the near
est Spaniards. The remainder were
soon reduced from eighty to fifteen by
famine and pestilence, and these few
were enslaved by the Indians and soon
became scattered from one another.
Alva Nurez remained on the island a
captive for more than q year, and was
forced byhis harsh masters to dig roots
as food from under. the water. After q
time. however, he was allowed a
greater liberty. and Bothered his condi-
ton by trading with the natives on the
mainland. travelling, naked as he was,
over Texas for many leagues of terri
tory, and exchanging shells and vari-
Gus articles used on the coast for skins
and other inland products. Thus, for
six years, he involuntary made his
home at Malhado Island, for thus he
named the place of his misfortune.
After these years of captivity he
finally succeeded in escaping from his
captors with 0viedo, the only white
survivor remaining on the island. He
went down the coast, passing four
large rivers, and finally entered a bay
which he supposed was the. Espiritu
Santo, discovered in 1919. He soon
fell in with three other persons belong
ing to the original party, and these
four are the only ones who were known
to have survived of the three hundred
that had sailed from Florida. Alva
Nurez and his party, having learned
through terrible hardship to accommo-
date themselves to life in the wilder:
ness, made the first extensive explora-
tons in Texas and in the adjoining coun-
try that is known to have bsen made
by Europeans. His account of their
wanderings was republished q number
of times in Spain, under a variety of
titles, and also translated into Italian,
French and English. Another narrative
exists in the report given by the party
to the audiencia in Mexico, in 1886.
Although both statements bear the evil
dent imprint of the fullest good faith,
they were written from memory and
contain many inaccuracies. They agree
in essentials, however, in regard to the
adventures of the party. but there is
wide difference in dates, directions and
distances. These reports are fragment
airy, and even contradictory, but they
throw priceless light on the condition
of Texas then.
As the Spaniards do not speak of
crossing the Mississippi river, as
they certainly would had they
noticed it, Malhado Island must, there
fore. have been to the west Of
that stream. Their location in the Bay
of Espiritu Santo is fixed by certain
great sand hills, which Oviedo men
tons as prominent landmarks, and at
the present day the United States Coast
Survey speaks of the sand mounds as
rising from an almost level prairie re-
gion at the bay which now bears the
name of Espiritu Santo. This from the
internal evidence of those early narra-
tives that either this bay or San
Antonio has the best claim of being
the initial point from which explora-
tons began into Texan territory. The
journey OF these pioneer explorers be-
gan in the summer of 1885, when
Nurez and Oviedo took advantage Of
their masters annual visit to the in
terror to procure supply Of prickly
pears for food, to make their escape
Fort Worth Gazette. -:.-> Va. !
..~ On the Road to Lunacy IT.